Olga's letter to her tutor Peter Vasilievich Petrov, dated October 3, 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_37466

The letter:

Крым. Ливадия.

1909. 3-го Октября.

🐇

суббота

А под кустиком кусточком заинька сидит!

Сердечно Вас благодарю за длинное письмо многоуважаемый Петр Васильевич, получила его только-что и уже спешу ответить.

Пишу Вам за место урока, так-как Вы просили меня написать Вам длинное письмо. Вы меня спрашиваете, что это за место где не было воды, да разве я Вам не написала? Это было Учансу. Карнавал не был поздно совсем. Он начался в 2 часа, а кончился около пяти. Публики было очень много. Благодарю Вас, из Петербурга мне ничего не надо, а только можно будет попросить бумаги для рисования, мою старую, я где-то потеряла или отправили в Царское Село, до нашего отъезда из Петергофа. — Пятого в день именин Алексея в четыре часа, весь Черноморский флот будет здесь проходить и салютовать, как будет должно-быть красиво, а у нас в это время будут гости дети В. К. Ксении Александровны и дети В. К. Марии Георгиевны. Всех нас вместе будет четырнадцать. Давайте я Вам перечислю их: Ирина, Андрей, Феодор, Никита, Дмитрий, Ростислав и Василий, дети Тети Ксении, потом: Нина и Ксения дети Тети Мини. Наверно нам будет очень весело. —

Сегодня завтракает с нами Эмир Бухарский, какой ужас мне придется с ним сидеть и разговаривать, что хуже всего. Вчера Татьяна и я с Мама ездили в Масандру и собирали чудные розы, потом когда вернулись мы обе пили чай с Папа и Мама и потом мы пришли к Софии Ивановне, у которой сидела Екатерина Ивановна ее сестра. Мы шили одеяла для бедных новорожденных детей, а София Ивановна портила себе глаза вышивая такие мелкие вещи, что ровно ничего не видно, а сейчас утром она продолжает. София Ивановна Вам страшно благодарна за письмо и очень кланяется.

Нам всем так ужасно тяжело и грустно расставаться с Папа, хотя он и уезжает не на очень долго, но все-таки очень тяжело. —

У Алексея здесь было 5 кроликов из Харакса, от детей Марии Георгиевны, он и Мария и Анастасия довольно-таки за ними ухаживают. И вот на второй день когда они были подарены Мария и Анастасия пропали и их ни где не могли найти.

Заметьте у нас в тот день были гости. Мы начинаем пить чай, а их все нет да нет, как в воду канули. После чая все начинаем играть, и они являются, спрашивают их где они были конечно. Они заявили, что были у кроликов, чистили клетки и кормили их. Принесли туда кочан капусты, разломали его на мелкие кусочки принесли воды, старых листьев и начали этой гадостью кормить кроликов, они принесли еще что-то, но я не знаю что. На другой день один из кроликов подох, потому что они его перекормили и ночью его еще кошка помяла, ну и конечно он подох. Они все четыре еще совсем маленькие. Этого бедного кролика похоронили где-то в кустах, ну конечно в землю зарыли и насыпали сверху огромную кучу старых листьев.

Наверно я Вам надоела с этим несносным рассказом, но все-таки хотела его изъяснить.

Больше не могу писать, ужасно устала рука.

Досвидания.

Всего хорошего.

Шлем все привет.

Ваша ученица

1

Ольга.

English translation (my own):

Crimea. Livadia.

1909. 3rd October.

🐇

saturday

And under a bush a bunny is sitting!

I sincerely thank you for the long letter, dear Peter Vasilievich, I have just received it and am already in a hurry to reply.

I am writing to you for the place of the lesson, since you asked me to write you a long letter. You ask me what kind of place it was where there was no water, but didn't I write to you? It was Uchansu. The Carnival was not late at all. It began at 2 o'clock and ended at about five. There were a lot of people. Thank you, I don't need anything from St. Petersburg, but I can only ask for paper for drawing, I lost my old one somewhere or sent to Tsarskoe Selo before our departure from Peterhof. — At five on the day of Alexei's name day at four o'clock, the entire Black Sea Fleet will pass here and salute, as it should be beautiful, and at this time we will have as guests the children of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and the children of Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna. All of us together will be fourteen. Let me list them for you: Irina, Andrei, Feodor, Nikita, Dmitri, Rostislav and Vasili, Aunt Xenia's children, then: Nina and Xenia are children of Aunt Minnie. We'll probably have a lot of fun. —

Today the Emir of Bukhara is having breakfast with us, what a horror I will have to sit with him and talk, which is the worst of all. Yesterday Tatiana and Mama and I went to Massandra and collected wonderful roses, then when we returned we both drank tea with Papa and Mama and then we went to Sofia Ivanovna, with whom Ekaterina Ivanovna was sitting, her sister. We sewed blankets for poor newborn children, and Sofia Ivanovna spoiled her eyes by embroidering such small things that you couldn't see anything at all, but now in the morning she continues. Sofia Ivanovna is terribly grateful to you for the letter and sends very many regards.

It is so terribly difficult and sad for all of us to part with Papa, although he is not leaving for a very long time, but still it is very difficult. —

Alexei had 5 rabbits from Harax here, from Maria Georgievna's children, he and Maria and Anastasia take good care of them. And on the second day when they were presented, Maria and Anastasia disappeared and could not be found anywhere.

Notice we had guests that day. We begin to drink tea, but they are all gone and gone, as if they had sunk into the water. After tea we all started playing, and they come, asked them where they were of course. They stated that they had visited the rabbits, cleaned the cages and fed them. They brought a head of cabbage there, broke it into small pieces, brought water, old leaves and began to feed the rabbits with this filth; they brought something else, but I don't know what. The next day one of the rabbits died because they overfed him and at night the cat still crumpled him, and of course he died. All four of them are still quite small. This poor rabbit was buried somewhere in the bushes, but of course they buried in the ground and poured a huge pile of old leaves on top.

I'm probably tiring you with this unbearable story, but I wanted to explain it just the same.

I can't write anymore, my hand is terribly tired.

Bye.

All the best.

Regards to everyone.

Your student

1

Olga.

Above: Alexandra.

Above: Olga.

Tatiana's letter to her tutor Peter Vasilievich Petrov, dated November 18, 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_37168

The letter:

N9. Ливадия.

Крым. Среда. 18го Ноября. 1909.

Многоуважаемый Петр Васильевич,

От всей души благодарю Вас за письмо. Мама и Ольга и я были в магазинах в Ялте, было очень весело мы покупали разные мелочи.

Как Ваше здоровье? Благодарю Вас за письмо которое я только-что получила. Нам дает уроки французского языка учитель детей В. Кн. Ксении Александровны M. Nikil. Как пишется не знаю но по моему так. Так не хочется отсюда уезжать. Что Вы делаете каждый день? —

Пока прощайте. Кланяюсь.

Ваша ученица №2

Татьяна.

English translation (my own):

No. 9. Livadia.

Crimea. Wednesday. 18th November. 1909.

I thank you with all my heart for your letter. Mama and Olga and I were in shops in Yalta, it was a lot of fun, we bought various little things.

How is your health? Thank you for the letter I just received. We are given French lessons by the tutor to Xenia Alexandrovna's children, Monsieur Nikil. I don't know how to spell it, but in my opinion I really don't want to leave here. What do you do everyday? —

Goodbye for now. Regards.

Your student No. 2,

Tatiana.

Above: Alexandra with Olga and Tatiana.

Tatiana's letter to her tutor Peter Vasilievich Petrov, dated November 6, 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_37148

The letter:

N6. Ливадия. Крым. Пятница 6го Ноября

1909.

Многоуважаемый Петр Васильевич.

От всей души благодарю Вас за Вашу чудесную книгу которую я была страшно рада получить. Я уже несколько рассказов прочла которые мне очень понравились. Вчера у нас был урок французский язык и сегодня тоже. Теперь Ольга занимается, а я сижу с Софией Ивановной рядом и пишем.

Пожалуйста когда Вы составите программу наших зимних занятий то пожалуйста пришлите мне их и я передам их Софии Ивановне и заодно напишите мне тоже маленькую программу.

Как Ваше здоровье? До урока Папа, Мама, Ольга и несколько офицеров с яхты и я играли в тен[н]ис было очень весело. Теперь мы с Ольгой уже можем немножко играть и это нам очень нравится.

Где ваши племянницы? Вчера когда мне учитель диктовал французскую диктовку то я писала рассказ на пол страницы. На этих нескольких строках у меня было 10 ошибок и самых пустых например: chez я написала shai, вместо avaient написала avais, даже стыдно когда подумаешь об этом.

Ну как Вам нравится? Что Вы делаете каждый день? Пока прощайте. Кланяюсь.

Ученица Ваша

Татьяна.

English translation (my own):

N6. Livadia. Crimea. Friday. 6th November

1909

Dear Peter Vasilievich.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful book, which I was terribly glad to receive. I have already read several stories that I really liked. Yesterday we had a French lesson and today too. Now Olga is studying, and I am sitting next to Sofia Ivanovna and writing.

Please, when you draw up the program of our winter activities, please send them to me and I will give them to Sofia Ivanovna and at the same time write me a small program too.

How is your health? Before the lesson, Papa, Mama, Olga and several officers from the yacht and I played tennis, it was a lot of fun. Now Olga and I can play a little bit and we really like it.

Where are your nieces? Yesterday, when my tutor dictated a French dictation to me, I wrote a half-page story. On these few lines I had 10 errors and the most empty ones for example: chez I wrote shai, instead of avaient I wrote avais, even ashamed when you think about it.

How do you like it? What do you do everyday? Goodbye for now. Regards.

Your Student

Tatiana.

Above: Alexandra with Tatiana.

Anastasia's letter to her tutor Peter Vasilievich Petrov, dated November 2, 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_36050

The letter:

Петербург.

Его Превосходительству

Петру Васильевичу

Петрову

Васильевск. остр. 3я линия

Д. 36.

1909. 2 Ноября.

Милый П. В. П. Я оченъ рада была получыть песмо от вас. Кода вы нам напышыти какия небутъ вопросы? Папа играют в тенис и Мама смотрит как Папа и грает а Ольга и Татьяна тоже и грают а мы с Мари подъ бераим шоры.

У нас были 31 Октебря была буря были огромныя волны.

Трина вам кланиеца очень и она говорить что у вас очень красивый кабенет. Гравъ згравиний ехали и их окатило волной и Трину тоже совсемь.

Мы все котаемся верхом.

Маленкоя ученица

Анастасия.

А. Р. А.

With corrected spelling:

Петербург.

Его Превосходительству

Петру Васильевичу

Петрову

Васильевск. остр. 3я линия

Д. 36.

1909. 2 Ноября.

Милый П. В. П. Я очень рада была получить писмо от вас. Куда вы нам напишите какие-нибудь вопросы? Папа играет в теннис и Мама смотрит как Папа играет а Ольга и Татьяна тоже играют а мы с Марии подбираем шары.

У нас были 31 Октября была буря были огромные волны.

Трина вам кланяется очень и она говорит что у вас очень красивый кабинет. Граф с графиней ехали и их откатило волной и Трину тоже совсем.

Мы все катаемся верхом.

Маленькая ученица

Анастасия.

А. Р. А.

English translation (my own):

Petersburg.

To His Excellency

Peter Vasilievich

Petrov

Vasilievsk. ostr. 3rd line

D. 36.

1909. 2 November.

Dear P. V. P. I was very glad to receive a letter from you. Where can you write us any questions? Papa is playing tennis and Mama watches Papa play and Olga and Tatiana also play and Maria and I pick up the balls.

We had a storm on October 31, there were huge waves.

Trina sends you very many regards and she says that you have a very beautiful office. The Count and the Countess were driving and they were rolled away by the wave and Trina, too, completely.

We all ride on horseback.

[Your] little student

Anastasia.

A. R. A.

Above: Alexandra with Anastasia.

Alexandra's deciphered letter to Tatiana, dated May 11, 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_30871

The letter:

Ц. С. 11 Мая 1909

Е. И. В.

В. К.

Татьяне Николаевне.

Душка моя Татьяна,

Пишу то же этим шифром. Тогда мы скоро его выучим. Я не могу много писать. Очень устаю. Спи хорошо. Господь с тобою. Твоя старая

Мама.

English translation (my own):

Tsarskoe Selo, May 11, 1909

To Her Imperial Highness

The Grand Duchess

Tatiana Nikolaevna.

My darling Tatiana,

I am writing the same with this code. Then we will learn it soon. I cannot write much. I am getting very tired. Sleep well. The Lord be with you. Your old

Mama.

Above: Alexandra and Tatiana.

Alexandra's letter to Maria, dated January 10, 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_31250

The letter:

10. 1. 1909.

Душка Мария,

Крепко Тебя целую и желаю хорошего сна. Рада что малиновый чай Тебе понравился, надеюсь что будешь хорошо потеть — и завтра себя лучше чувствовать. —

Молились о Тебе в Церкви. — Храни Тебя Господь Бог.

Твоя старая

Мама.

English translation (my own):

10. 1. 1909.

Darling Marie,

I kiss You and wish You a good sleep. I am glad that You liked the raspberry tea, I hope that You will sweat well — and feel better tomorrow. —

We prayed for You in Church. — The Lord God bless You.

Your old

Mama.

Above: Alexandra and Maria.

The Evening Star on Alexandra being "a most unhappy woman", dated March 14, 1909

Source:

Published in The Evening Star in Washington, D.C. on March 14, 1909, by Curtis Brown

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1909-03-14/ed-1/seq-49/#date1=1894&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=czarina+Czarina+CZARINA&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=7&state=&date2=1918&proxtext=Czarina&y=14&x=13&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=6

The article:

Empress of All the Russias Is a Most Unhappy Woman

CZARINA PRAYS DAILY FOR DEATH TO RELIEVE HER FROM THE TERRIBLE BURDENS WHICH HAVE MADE HER A PHYSICAL WRECK — HAS TO BE WHEELED ABOUT IN A BATH CHAIR — LIVES IN CONSTANT FEAR OF HER OWN DEATH OR THAT OF HER HUSBAND OR CHILDREN BY THE DAGGER OR BOMB OF AN ASSASSIN — IS A HIGH-SOULED, LIBERAL-MINDED, GENEROUS AND LOVING WOMAN.

Special Correspondence of The Star.

ST. PETERSBURG, March 4, 1909.
Empress Alexandra of Russia, the czar's wife, is the unhappiest woman under the sun. Her life is nothing more than prolonged misery, and she prays fervently for death to relieve her from the crushing burdens of her pitiable existence at the imperial court of Russia. Her fate may well excite the deep sympathy of the civilized world, for although she is a victim of that unholy system of government that still prevails in her husband's dominions, she is an innocent sufferer for the terrible wrongs perpetrated by others.

The Empress Alexandra is a high-souled, liberal-minded, generous and loving woman. She is a woman of the most refined tastes and generous instincts; she loves the common people and their sorrows appeal to her with tremendous force. She is in deep sympathy with the progressive movement in Russia, and she abhors the crimes that have been committed during her husband's reign and are still being perpetrated in Russia day by day. Yet far from being able to terminate them she herself has been struck down and her happiness destroyed by that very system which she would gladly abolish in the interest of others. Both her mental and physical condition are truly pitiable. She is suffering from the most extreme form of nervous depression and exhaustion. She cannot sleep and she cannot eat. The prolonged loss of appetite and systematic lack of nourishment have reduced her to a condition of physical prostration.

***

After the long summer cruise in the Baltic sea undertaken primarily in the hope of restoring her health, the czarina was so weak that she could not walk ashore, but had to be carried in an arm chair. Now she rarely ventures outside the palace, but is generally wheeled about the private grounds in a bath chair. She is only thirty-six years of age, but she is a complete wreck. Much of her time is spent in fits of depression during which she lies motionless in apathetic despair. Sometimes the terrible calm of her profound melancholy is varied by passionate fits of weeping, which horrify and alarm the members of her family and the ladies of her suite. At nights she cannot sleep, but sees awful visions of the thousands of unhappy men and women who during her husband's reign and by virtue of the death warrants signed by his hand have died on the gallows simply because they held political opinions which were considered objectionable by the recognized and accredited representatives of law and order as these terms are understood in Russia. When she falls into fitful slumbers her sleep, such as it is, is disturbed by gruesome dreams and nightmares — dreams of blood and hellish horrors, visions of an inferno created not by the imagination of a great horror, but by the revolting realities of the predominant political system in Russia.

Day and night she broods over the condition of Russia and over the unhappy isolation of the imperial family. Often she starts up from her gloomy reveries in a sudden gust of fear that assassins who have so often chosen the rulers of Russia as the victims of their cruel murders may be close at hand, intent on terminating with one decisive blow that system of oppression which is incorporated in the czar's imperial person. At other times she storms into the nursery to make sure that her beloved children are all alive, having imagined in her mental agony that they had already been felled by the dagger of a terrorist or destroyed by the fragments of a revolutionary bomb. She realizes with an awful clearness of comprehension that death hovers over her husband and her family, so that every morning she cannot know whether she will be able to clasp them in her arms in the evening, and every evening she fears that they may be torn from her side before the sun rises again.

No words can adequately describe the profound depths of the unhappiness of this imperial woman. No tragedy conceived in the imagination of poets is so truly tragic as the fate of the Czarina Alexandra

***

Her life at the Russian court, which has now extended for a period of fourteen years, has been one long series of ruthless disillusionments. Her childhood and girlhood were spent in the happiest possible circumstances. Her mother was Princess Alice, the favorite daughter of the venerable Queen Victoria of England, and the father was the royal crown duke of the little German state of Hesse. Her earlier years were divided between the delightful parental home in the vicinity of Darmstadt, in the genial atmosphere of southern Germany, and in the keen, refreshing air of English liberty at Windsor. She was brought up with perfect simplicity, and as a child she was encouraged to forget the fact that her grandmother was a queen and her father a ruling sovereign. She played games and she rode and enjoyed with hearty good spirits all the pleasures in which a healthy girl can participate. Up to the age of twenty-two her happiness was unclouded. She had lived almost an ideal life full of happiness and contentment, characterized by joyous gayety and the light-heartedness of innocence.

Then she was marked down as the prey of Russian oppression. The Russian government, in its search for a suitable bride for Nicholas, the heir to the throne, decided that Princess Alix of Hesse was the most eligible young lady to be found among all the royal families of Europe. Formal proposals were accordingly made to the court of Hesse, and no end of pressure was brought to bear on the reluctant Princess Alix to accept the future czar as her husband. Nicholas came to visit her family at Darmstadt, and created a most unfavorable impression on his future bride. She found him dull and uninteresting and rather unsympathetic. He did not appeal to her interest in any way, and it seemed to her that life with this quaint little man as her husband offered no charms at all. The pictures that were drawn to her of the magnificence of the court of Russia left her unmoved, for she was a pure, natural girl who wanted to marry for love, and to her the idea of making a political match was abhorrent in every sense. But finally her opposition was overcome. The persuasion of her relatives and her friends broke down her opposition. Reluctantly and against her own will she became the wife of Nicholas, and no sooner were they wedded than the death of Alexander III elevated her husband to the throne of all the Russias.

It was a terrible experience for a high-spirited and independent young girl to leave the surroundings of her youth to plunge into the corrupt and fetid atmosphere of the Russian court. From the very beginning she was disliked by the Russian court party and she disliked them in return. Her unconventional habits and her progressive tendencies made her an object of suspicion to all the grand dukes and duchesses and aristocratic magnates who formed the bulwarks of the reactionary system of government in the country. The old gang at court despised and ridiculed her; she was exposed to petty humiliations and annoyances. Her lack of knowledge of the Russian language, which she has since learned to perfection, at that time made her the subject of unseemly jests and gibes. It is true that she was the czar's wife, but in the strange surroundings of the Russian court she was made to feel like an intruder and almost like an impostor.

All this would have been bearable if she had loved her husband and could have enjoyed a happy family life. But that love which was wanting before marriage never came afterward, for the revelation of Nicholas II's character came as a fearful shock and deep disappointment to this energetic and ambitious woman. She soon found that the czar was nothing more than a weakling, who was driven hither and thither by the different cross currents as though he were a feather in a whirlpool. Moreover, his everyday actions showed a shameless disregard of morality. The czar did not even take the trouble to conceal in any way his flirtations. The czarina resolutely opposed the immoral tendencies of the Russian court. Her own life has been blameless above the least reproach and she excluded from her own circle all those women who could be identified as participants in scandalous affairs. She could not overcome the customs and traditions of centuries, but her influence was felt and it promoted the purity of the imperial court.

***

It was not only the personal immorality of the Russian court and of the highest circles of the Russian aristocracy that the Empress Alexandra opposed and combated. Year after year she struggled in a futile effort to liberate her husband from the yoke of his reactionary advisers and to convince him that the safety of Russia lay in the adoption of those measures of political progress which had so long been introduced in western countries. The executions, the persecutions, the unjust punishments meted out to political offenders harrowed the soul of the czarina and stirred up in her a burning hatred of the system which the czar was upholding. Time after time she intervened to wring from her husband a free pardon of political prisoners condemned to death or at least commutation of the capital sentence to terms of penal servitude. Again and again she raised her voice on behalf of unhappy exiles and caused their release. Year after year she reasoned and argued and pleaded with the czar to abandon his reactionary methods of government, pointing out to him that the perpetuation of cruelty and injustice could only bring ruin on the Romanoff dynasty.

Her reforming tendencies brought her into collision with the entire environment of the Russian court. Her mother-in-law, the Dowager Empress Marie, denounced her as wicked and scheming, and battles royal took place between the czar's mother and the czar's wife. All the grand dukes and grand duchesses were up in revolt against her. It was a case of one woman fighting against the established order of things defended by all the powerful elements in the country. But the czarina never flinched. With clear intelligence she saw disaster approaching, and, undeterred by opposition and undismayed by calumny and ridicule, she steadily pursued her way and sought to reform Russia. Unhappy in her married life and disappointed in regard to the political development of the country which she had adopted as her own, her only consolation was offered her by her children.Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
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***

When the storm of revolution burst over Russia four years ago the warnings which the czarina had uttered were justified. Her prophecies had come true. She alone among the statesmen and magnates of Russia had realized the awful consequence of systematically oppressing a great nation. Her relatives outside of Russia, including some of the most influential members of the English royal family and her own brother, now the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse, urged her to turn her back on the accursed country and to seek safety in a foreign refuge; but the czarina, who alone had seen the danger and who had sought to avert it, could not be persuaded to leave her husband's side. The grand dukes fled to Paris to drown care in dissipations, and the grand duchesses dispersed to the pleasure resorts of Europe, but the czarina remained at home, even although it seemed certain at many times that death at the hands of the exasperated rebels would be the only reward for her courageous determination.

Since the first outbreak of revolution, at the end of 1904, the czarina has been living in bondage. Her prison is gilded, but her incarceration is hardly less terrible than that of the Siberian exiles. There has been no moment in which the danger of assassination was absent. Plots and conspiracies to murder the entire imperial family were discovered and frustrated. Bombs were found in the imperial palace and poison in the food destined for the imperial table. Day after day news came from all parts of the empire of bloodshed and war between the old and the new order. Throughout the period of revolutionary disorder in Russia the czarina continued to work with frantic energy for the introduction of progressive measures and for a conciliatory policy toward the nation.

It is one of the ironies of fate that this noble woman, who spared no effort to save the country, should be the primary victim of Russian tyranny. She is a martyr to the cause of liberty and civilization. Her name will be handed down to future generations of Russia as that of a great and noble woman, who performed her duty unflinchingly and who with courageous determination opposed all the forces of corruption and reaction in the Russian empire.

Letter to Alexandra from Olga, dated January 17, 1909

Source:

Letters and writings of Nicholas II and his family on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/108838347527221/photos/a.108851520859237/114186850325704/?type=3&__tn__=-R

The letter:

Satturday 17. 01. 1909 Tsarskoe Selo
My precious beloved Mama!
I am so awfully sorry that you are not feeling well. Oh! When will you get better, my sweet Mama? Hope so much that soon. When He will come you will be better and then it will be such a joy and a happy time for me. What did you do these last years my Mama darling, that you are not as well as you were before? It make's me so sad and anxious. I know when our dear Friend will be near us, Mama darling will feel better and not so week as now. Shall pray in Church for God to send you strength. God grant soon you will walk about like always before this year and last year. You asked me yesterday why did I cry, because it make's me to awfully sad to see you so week and tired. Your one tired look make's me feel that you suffer. Good bye sweet Mama. A true kiss from your very own daughter Olga. God bless you, be near you.

Above: Alexandra. Photo courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK.

Above: Olga. Photo courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK.

Above: Grigori Rasputin, whom Alexandra and her children referred to as "our Friend".

New Year's letter to Alexandra by Maria, year 1909

Source:

Olga Grigor'eva at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_51069

The letter:

1909 г.
Христос Воскресе!
Моя милая Мама. Как твое здоровье? желаю Тебе хорошо провести праздник. целую крепко.
Мария

English translation (my own):

1909
Christ Is Risen!
My dear Mama. How is your health? I wish you a good holiday. A big kiss.
Maria

Above: Alexandra and Maria. Photo courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK.

Alexandra with Olga and Tatiana in garden at Massandra Palace, then and now

Source:

Photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_44524

This photo of Alexandra with Olga and Tatiana was taken in the garden at Massandra Palace in 1909; the same spot 110 years later in 2019.

(photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK)

Alexandra and Tatiana in garden at Massandra Palace, then and now

Source:

Photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_44556

This photo of Alexandra with Tatiana was taken in the garden at Massandra Palace in 1909; the same spot in 2019.

(photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK)

Alexandra in the garden at Massandra Palace, then and now

Source:

Photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_45263

This photo of Alexandra in the garden at Massandra Palace was taken in 1909; the same spot 110 years later in 2019.

(photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK)

Nicholas and Alexandra with Catherine Schneider at Ai-Petri, then and now

Source:

Photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK

https://vk.com/lastromanovs?w=wall-56510987_47063

These photos of Alexandra with Nicholas and her lady-in-waiting Catherine Schneider were taken on the viewing platform at Ai-Petri in autumn 1909; the same beautiful view 110 years later in 2019.

(photos courtesy of Ilya Grigoryev at lastromanovs on VK)

Alexandra's postcard letter to Ernst, year 1909/1910

Source:

https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2645B/lots/381

The letter:

1909
1910

Ernie dear
May the New Year bring you rich blessing & happiness. I send you three new cards, as you like Egyp. things.
Kisses fr.
Sunny

Above: Alexandra.

Above: Ernst.